Blog Your Blessings: Origami

Origami club started up at school this week. We are not a sport; I am not a coach, and I therefore  do not get paid. But folding is awesome, there are kids who are not jocks who have some kind of affinity for the beautiful and what is possible when you create it, and I share their hope.

We folded flowers, and two kids brought a bouquet to the school secretary. Then all the kids folded a flower to take home. On to the--

"Miss, I want to show them the swan."

That was Ramon, a beautiful little puppy of a seventh-grader who learned it from me last year, knew it, and wanted to have a go at being the teacher. 

"Go for it, buddy."

He got to the second step and turned to me and said, "God, Miss. I'm nervous!"

"You're doing great."

He went on. Then, he and the two other boys who had folded with me last year moved among the kids to help them get it right.  They were gracious and sweet.  I could have cried just watching the older kids help the younger kids learn to create a little bit of beauty from a little bit of paper.

"Let's torture them with reverse folds," I suggested to Zach, my favorite little buddy from last year, after the swan was done. We folded the sailboat as we learned reverse folds.

"Reverse folds!" And then the veterans moved among the masses to make sure they had it right. In minutes, we had a paper regatta ready to set sail.

That was Wednesday afternoon. Today, I had to see a house principal about a trouble-maker on the bus I monitor. He had a paper sailboat on his desk. 

One of the kids had come into his office and said on Thursday, "Hat or sailboat?" He said, "Give me a sailboat!" She did. And there it was. 

Origami --> good karma --> goodness. 

You gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. 

Know when to stay.